The Season's Most Grueling Day For Man, Machines

Nascar's World 600 More Of Endurance Test Than Dash To Finish Line

CONCORD, N.C. — The longest closed-course race in NASCAR begins today at 1 p.m., but don't expect to see a lot of all-out racing.

The race is the World 600, and stock car drivers have gathered at the Charlotte Motor Speedway for what is more an endurance test than anything else.

Today's race (officially, it's the Coca-Cola World 600) is for 400 laps around the 1.5-mile track.

A live crowd of 100,000 and millions more on cable television will watch 42 drivers race for their share of the $913,000 purse. The winning team will carry home about $100,000.

Except for missing the '65 race because of a rules dispute with NASCAR and the '70 race with an injury, two-time winner Richard Petty, 52, has run every World 600. His approach to today's race is similiar to 1960 when he started 11th and finished 55th.

"Nobody can flat-out race for 600 miles," he said Friday. "In fact, not many people can really race hard for 500. Here, you run the first 100 miles to get where you want to be, ride around the next 400 miles, then hope there's enough of you and the car left to race hard the last 100 miles."

Darrell Waltrip is acknowledged as NASCAR's best "strategy" driver, a patient, calculating, heady man with a unique feel for when to go and when to whoa.

Now 42, he's won a record five World 600s, including last year's, when his crew adjusted his Chevy on almost every pit stop. He got serious in the final 150 miles and won going away.

"More than any other race, this is where patience and knowing you car comes into play," he said. "You need a little patience in a 400-miler and a little more in a 500. But it's all patience in a 600.

"You know you can't go hard for 600 miles, so you set a pace that'll get you to 450 miles in pretty good shape. You look for a place where you can run a comfortable pace with people you don't mind running with.

"The track will change during the afternoon, which means your car will change, too. You might go one way with (chassis) adjustments, then go back the other if the weather changes in the middle of the race.

"The big thing is not to run your equipment in the ground. Be patient and watch what everybody else does. When it's time to go hard, go real hard. And don't race people who can't beat you."

Four-time winner Buddy Baker said the 600 comes down to comfort. "You use the first 100 miles to get comfortable for the next 400. If you're still running good after 500 you can man-handle that sucker 100 more."

For the 42 groups of crewmen and engine-builders whose equipment will be tested, today's race could just as easily be a 500-miler in Pennsylvania, a 400 in Michigan or a short-track race at Martinsville.

Other than its higher-than-average purse and the spectacular pre-race show, the 600 is simply another Sunday at the office.

According to most crew chiefs, the extra 100 miles that makes this NASCAR's longest and second-richest race doesn't put any additional pressure on them or their crews.

"We work as hard and prepare just the same for every race," said Jake Elder, crew chief for rookie of the year candidate Rob Moroso.

What about the drivers? How will they approach the endurance race around the high-banked track?

Said Morgan Shepherd: "I won't get as hot or tired in 600 miles here Sunday as I will in the first 300 miles at Dover (Del.) next weekend. That (500-mile) race is a lot worse than this one."

Pole-sitter Ken Schrader agreed. "The big thing isn't the distance of the race; it's the time we spend in the car," he said. "This one could be over in four hours, maybe a little more. Five hours at Dover will be a lot worse than that."

Petty said it's all mental. "You get yourself, the car and the crew psyched up for being out there all afternoon. You know it's gonna get hot and people are gonna beat on you, but you accept it."